Machine for cleaning and separating cotton from its impurities.



PATENTED MAR. 5. 19074 3. LYLE.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING A NIJ SEPARATING COTTON FROM ITS lMPURITIEL APPLICAIICI FILED AUG.7.1906.

8 SHEETS-SHEBT l INVENTUH TIBHN S. LYLE W/TNESSES A TTORNE YS PATENTBD MAR. 5, 1907.

3 BHEBTS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOH JOHN- S. LYL E ATTORNEYS Y J. s. LYLE. MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND SEPARATING COTTON FROM yrs IMPURITIES. I APYLICATIQN PILI JD AUG. 7. 1906- PATENTED MAR. 5, 1907.

as. LYLE. MACHINE FOR CLEANING AND SBPARATING COTTON FROM ITS IMPURITIBS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.7.1906

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

11114.1(! III'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII HllllllH'illllllllfillllll!IIIIINIIll\Hllllllllllllllllw 1111"! flllllllllll INVENTOH Jul-1N S LYLE WITNESSES A TTOHNE YS UNITED STATES PATENT orrion ffToallfibhom it 'm ay concern: I -Be' it known that 1, JOHN SAMUEL-LYLE, a .citizeniof the United States, residin at Me- Loud, in the county of Pottawatomie; Okla sihoma Territor have invented anew and Improved Machinefor Cleaning and Separating Cotton from its Impurities, ofgwhich the following is a specification. p This invention is'a machine .for cleaning ioca'nd separating cotton from its-impurities, and-has forits object to provide an improved ymachine characterized by efliciencyi'n operation while retaining simplicity and cheapness .of construction tively small-amount of power to drive thei A special object of the invention is to provvide a flmachine which ,will 'act,in an improved manner upon cracked and unopened 2o fbolls', a'nd so Work upon machine-picked,uza-

1, aterialfas wellas hand-picked, thereby reduc-' r ging the post ,ofgathering the cotton and increas'ing' the yield by utilizing irnrnatureand lunopened bolls. Such bolls are 0 ened with-- out-lcutting. or tearin the same, t erebysaving the staple and ai'oiding the. difficulty of. cleaning out mashed or finely-broken pieces of hulls; v v YSpeaking generally. the machine consists of a breaker-drum,two corrugated rolls and "screensaround. same, and a large drum, the 'outer'surface of which is covered with small spikes or teeth, together 'I with pneumatic means "for removing the cotton from the drurni nying drawings, in whichr f 5 Figure 1- ma side elevation thereof. F 1g. 2 i's a'fheiitral" .vertical, longitudinal section.

Fin-3is'a rear'end elevation. Fig. 4'isa. de-

tai' ofa guard at the end of the'drum-casing.

. lFi 5 is as'ection on the line5 5 of Fig 2.

' Tiefrriiig to the drawings 'specifically filin- "di'cate's a substantially rect-an ular frarremm us contain and support t e operative 5 parts, as hereinafter described. At t iefront end of this frame is journaled a rotarybreaker consisting of twoc rcular heads 7-- ft, but disposed tangential y or at an f' iangie to theradius. The'shaft is extended Specification of Letters Patent. Application and A enit es. Serial No. 329,555.

and requiring a comparatsin thebr'ace and extend arallrl toto a cross-bar 25. Thefmachrne 18 illustrated in the accoinpathe drum, (see Fig. 5,) so as end" beyond the side of the rnachine to i J )HN -SAM U EL LYLE, OF McLOUD, OKLAHQMA TERRITORY. MA C 'mE F R CLE AN INGA NP SEPARATING COTTON FROM ITS IMPURITIES.

Patented March 5, 1907.

receive a pulley 11, which is belted to pulley 13 on the shaft of the main or large drum.

The rotary breaker is covered by a casing 14, supported on the front of the n;ain frame, this casing being open at the ends. Mounted-within the casiiigis the breaker-breast 15, extending over part of the upper half of the breaker, and this breast is deeply grooved with longitudinal angular grooves, fornzing a corrugated surface opposite the breaker,

spaced'sufliciently to avoid tearing or cutting t e bolls, but suiiieiently near to break andopen the same at theirnatural joints.

At 16-and 17 are indicated a pair of corrugated rolls-inountcd, respectively, or shifts JSand 19,' extending across the niachine.

The shaft 18 is driven by pulleys and belt 20 from the drum-shaft, and the shaft 19 is 'sirr ilarly driven by pulleys and belt 21 on the other side of the frame. These rolls have coarse corrugations which run the'full length of the same. 7

, The breaker and the corrugated rolls are inclosed on their under sides by a screen 22, fornied of coarse wire-cloth of about halfinch mesh, extending from one side of the machine to the other and shaped to conform to the surface of the said rotating parts.

The screen is fastened at its front end to the lower edge of the breast 15 and is srpported at 23 and 24 by inverted-Vshaped pieces, which are fastened at their ends to the side pieces of the main frame. At its rear end adjacent the main drumthe screen is secured The main drum 26 is built on radial arms 27, connected to hubs fast on the shaft 28,

- which is mounted in boxes on-the side frames and is extended a sufficient distance at each end to receive the pulleys. The drum is covered with sharp spikes 29, projecting radially, which act to carry the cotton as the drum rotates. The lower half of the drum is inclosed by an apron formed of spaced slats 30', extending across parallel'to the drum and fastened at their ends to semicircular pieces 31, which extend inwardly from the slats a sufficient distance to lap the edge of to prevent cotton from working out at the ends. The apron is fastened at the beginning to the cross-bar 25 and at theside to the traces-32. "At the termination of the a"; ron, at the rear of theframe, is an opening 88, extending'across the machine, with an adjustable lip 34 thereunder, and above said opening is a sheet-iron casing 35 over the drum and fol lowing the shape thereof and continuing to an opening 36 at the top of the drum. The edge of the casing at said opening is set close to the drum, so that the cotton and hulls are compressed as they pass the edge and then' expand in the opening, so that the hulls and heavier material is caught by the curved huller or separator 37 and thrown back, the cotton continuing under and beyond the edge'oi said 'huller to the mouth ofthel exhaus't-pipe 38. v This pipe has a broad and narrow'mouth extending across the machine 4 at the top of the drum, converging to a round pipe, which maybe connected to any suitable exhaust-fan.

Extending across above the upper edge of the casing 35 is a guard consisting of a bar 1 36?,'with depending fingers 36. The casing which any cotton carried over may be returned to the drum,

In operation the raw material is fed in at 43 to the breaker, thepaddles of which, in conjunction with the breast 15, break open and beat up the bolls and then pass the material to the rolls 16 and 17, the corrugated. surfaces of which furtherworkit up to'dislodge dirt and trash and deliver the remainder to the large drum. The dirt, finehulls, &c., fall out through the screen as the materi'al is carried thereover. The spikes on the large drum advance the material over the slatted apron 3Q, holding the cotton and al-' lowing most of the remaining portion of the Y hulls and waste to drop out between the slats. The material is finally carried up between the drum and the casing 35 and on reaching the I recurved hulier 37 the hulls and heavier parts, which naturally, in consequenceof their greater weight, collect on the outside of, the layer, being carried around, are separated OR by the lower edge of the liuller and thrown backward and downward upon the outside of the casing 35, dpwn whioh'they slide to and off the lip 39', wlnchprojects the- "hulls beyond the edge of the apron34; but any flakes of cotton which may be carried down with the hulls, being lighter, fall directly to the lip 34 and down the same through v the opening 33 and back to-the drum and are thus saved. The rake 36 also serves to catch large flocks of cotton 'cut' out by the;

huller 37 and return the same to 'thedrum. ljhe fingers of the rake are far enough apart to allow'the hulls to pass through, but catch the cotton flocks. The cleaned cotton, passing with the drum under the'huller 37, is drawn off'the spikes. bythe suction in the pipe 38fand thence carried to the gin orelse where. Anycotton or waste material passing the mouth ofthe pipe .is thrown off against the plate 40,-which is set at -'suc'h an angle or distance that the pieces of bulls or heavier wastewill be directed above or over the same into the waste-housing 41; but the lighter cotton will fall through'the opening 42 and bereturned'to the drum. l e

' 1. In a machine of the kind stated, in combination, a rotary breaker, a pair of beatingrolls, a screen extending breaker and rolls, a drum having spikes, a slatted apron partly surrounding the drum, and meansto take ofi the cleaned material from the drum.

. 52. In a machine ofthe kind stated, the combination, with a rotary drum-having projecting spikes,'and a casing extending partly around the drum, of a device forseparat-ingthe material carried aroimd by the drum, the same consisting of a plate arranged in the opening of the-casing and above the drum and curved backward, or opposite to the rotation; of .the 'drum, substantially as described.

3. In a .machine'of the kind stated, the

combination with the drum having projec+ tions," of .a casing extending partly around the same, a. separating pate extending across the drum at a spaceifrom the end of the casing and curved backwardly to throw wastev back upon the outer surface of the casing, and arake above the endof the easing and extending along said space.

1. In a machine ofthe kind stated, the combination with a-drum having projections, of a slatted apron extending around the lower part thereof, a casing extending around part of the upper half thereof, with a space between the-end of the apron and the beginning of the casing, a lip extending outwardly from said opening at an incline to return material thereto, means at the end of the casing to out off the heavier material from the drum and return same to the outartly around the side of the casing, down which it falls to the lip, and means on the outer side of the casing to project the heavier. part of said material beyond the lip. 5'. In a machine of the kind stated the combination with a drum having projections, of a casing extending partly around the upper half thereof and having an opening at its beginning for the return of material to the drum and'a projecting l-ipunder said opening, means at theend of the casing to separate the heavierpart of the material being carried around by the drum and return the sameupon the outer side ofthecasing, and a plate upon theouter side of the casing above the lip, bent out at its lower edge to project the heavier part' of said material beyond the lip.

" 6. In'a machine of the kind stated, the

combination with a rotary drum having pro-V jections, and part of its surface uncovered, of an inclined plate opposite the said uncovered part arranged to receive light ma- 

